Five Stages
by TroubleMagnet
Summary: George goes through the five stages of grief after Fred dies. One-shot.


**Author's Note: **_I absolutely adore Fred and George. And, just like a lot of you, I hated it when Fred died. Poor Freddie! This is a bit of a depature for me since I've gotten in the habit of writing parodies. Speaking of which - yes this is shameless promoting, but I'm all right with it - I have a commentary to the horrific fanfic known as 'My Immortal' out, so if you wanna check that out then please feel free. I also have a one-shot about how I thought My Immortal should have ended. _

_Do I own Harry Potter? Hm, considering my name isn't Joanne, I'm not married, I have no children, and I don't have heaps of money, I'm going to hazard a guess and say that I don't own it. _

* * *

**Five Stages**

**Denial**

'George, there's nothing you can do for him.'

George shrugged Percy's hand away from him. 'No, he's not dead!'

'He is,' Percy whispered, tears glistening in his eyes. 'He's gone.'

'No! He can't be! He can't have left me!'

George collapsed to the ground next to the body of his late twin brother. Sobs racked his body as he grasped the front of Fred's jacket. He began shaking him but no amount of shaking was going to reawaken the dead.

**~o~**

**Anger**

Tap. Tap. Tap.

George groaned and rolled over, grabbing his pillow and with an exasperated groan, he shoved the pillow on his face to cover his one good ear, trying to block out the incessant tapping.

'George, you need to get ready,' he heard Ginny call, her voice subdued. It had been for the past two weeks. It would be, especially today.

'I'm not going,' he shouted. 'Leave me alone. I'm trying to sleep.'

'What do you mean you're not going?'

George rolled his eyes. Wasn't it obvious. 'It means I'm not going, Ginny! Leave me alone!'

There was a pause as George listened for the sound of Ginny's footsteps moving downstairs, but he didn't hear it.

'You can't miss it, George,' she murmured quietly, but not quiet enough so that he missed it. 'You can't miss Fred's funeral.'

'Yes, I can!' George yelled, throwing his pillow across the room, and getting out of bed. He pulled the door open in his fit of anger and shouted, "I can miss it if I want to, and I do. He was the one that went and left us, not the other way around! Why should I go to his funeral only to say goodbye? I don't want to say goodbye to him, Ginny. He never should have gone in the first place! For the first time in our lives, I hate Fred!'

Tears welled up in Ginny's brown eyes as she shrank back against George's yells.

'You don't mean that...'

'Yes, I do.' George's chest heaved twice. 'I'm not going so leave me alone.'

With that, he slammed his bedroom door shut and crawled back into bed. If he wanted to miss the funeral of his twin brother, his best friend, then he would. He wasn't the one that went and died in the first place.

**~o~**

**Bargaining**

'I'd do anything for a slice of Mum's chocolate cake right now,' Ron said with a grin as he patted his stomach.

'I'd do anything to have Fred back...'

There was an awkward silence as the entire Weasley clan turned to stare at a dejected-looking George. The grin slid off Ron's face as quick as it had appeared.

'I know you would, Georgie,' Molly murmured to him. 'We all would.'

'I'd give up anything just have him back. I'd give up all the gold in my account, the shop... everything. I don't need anything without Fred.' He looked up at the ceiling, not caring whether it was a God or Merlin or even Dumbledore himself listening as long as they had the power to bring Fred back. 'You hear that? I don't need anything other than Fred. I'll give anything to have him back again. Anything. Bring him back and I'll give up everything.'

Molly's lip trembled as tears spilled out of George's eyes. 'Oh, Georgie...'

'I just want him back, Mum. I'll give anything just to have five more minutes with him, to tell him how much I love him and how much he meant to me.'

Molly wrapped her arms around him and allowed him to cry on her shoulder as her own tears cascaded down her face. 'I know you would, darling. I would, too. We all miss him, and it's all right to miss him. Fred knew we all loved him very much, and he knew just how much he meant to you. It was obvious that the pair of you were as close as brothers could go. My mischievous twins.'

**~o~**

**Depression**

'George.'

'George!'

'_George_!'

'GEORGE!'

'Leave me alone!' he yelled frustrated. What about no visitors did they not understand? He didn't want to see anyone, not even his own reflection. He just wanted to sleep his life away.

'You need to get up and open the shop.' George let out an exasperated groan; Bill was a persistant bugger. He was twenty-years-old. Did they think he couldn't open the shop without any assistance?

'I'm not opening it today.'

'Will you at least open the door?'

'No! Go away!'

'George, I'm not going anywhere until you open this door!'

Not bothering to get up, George reached for his wand and lazily flicked it to open the door. There was a reason he placed a Locking Charm on the door and it was so that no one could barge in and bother him without his permission.

'You need to get up.'

'Why does everyone keep telling me what to do?' Quite frankly, it was annoying.

'Because, these days, you need to be told constantly,' Bill answered, opening the curtains and almost blinding George.

'Would you shut them please?' George asked, shielding his eyes from the bright sunshine. 'I was planning on going back to sleep once you leave.'

'You've got a shop to open -'

'What's the point?' George asked. 'What is the point of getting up, Bill? What is the point of opening the shop? What is the point of eating and drinking? What is the point of going about my daily life, pretending to be happy, when in reality all I'm going to do is die? Why waste my time doing something I don't want to be doing when I can sleep my life away?'

Bill looked surprised. 'You don't mean that...'

'I do. All Fred's death has left is a huge hole in my heart that can never be replaced and I don't want it to be either. I'm not angry at him anymore, I'm upset that he left, but that's the whole point of life; we're born and we die. You can close the curtains on your way out. You shouldn't bother with me; I'm not worth it.'

Recoiling as though he had been slapped, Bill marched over to George's bed and pulled his duvet off him. He then proceeded to give his younger brother a good shake.

'Pull yourself together, George! We're all upset that Fred is gone! Mum and Dad lost a son! You're not the only one to have lost a brother; I did, Charlie did, Percy did, Ron did, Ginny did, and so did Harry, Hermione and Fleur, even though they aren't biologically related. We all lost him, but none of us are sleeping our lives away. Pull yourself together! There are people who need you here right now! Don't go wasting your chance while you've still got it!'

**~o~**

**Acceptance**

'Good morning, everyone,' George called cheerfully as he walked into the kitchen of the Burrow. He sniffed the morning air. 'Mmm, something smells good, Mum.'

George's lips twitched as he saw the shocked expressions on each member of his family's face as he strolled in and took his seat in between Ron and Bill.

'Are - are you feeling okay, George?' Ron asked hesitantly, placing a hand on his forehead as though feeling for a fever.

George swatted his hand away. 'I'm fine,' he said, rolling his eyes. 'I'm better than fine, actually. I feel better than I have done in a long time.' It was true. This morning had been one of the rare times he had felt content in waking up, and felt as though everything would be all right.

'You certainly look much better,' Bill commented, grinning. 'At least I don't have to shake you to get out of bed this time. Next time I would have used a bucket of ice water.'

Suddenly, a sly grin broke out on George's face as he counted the heads at the table. He only counted eight and that was not including himself. His only sister was missing from their breakfast table.

'You know, brother dearest, a bucket of ice waters seems like the most appropriate way of waking out only sister up, don't you think?'

Catching on to his plan, Bill's grin widened and he said, 'Not a chance! Now that she's able to use magic outside of school, I wouldn't dare to anything that could resort in a possible Bat-Bogey Hex; she's really gotten quite good at those.'

'Worth the risk, I say,' George shrugged as he slithered out of his seat to search for a bucket. He stopped mid-step and slapped himself on the forehead. 'I'm an idiot,' he declared, whipping his wand out. 'Accio bucket.' The desired object flew into his outstretched hand and he began filling it up, smiling as he did so.

Once the bucket was completely filled to the brim with ice cold water, George turned to his brothers and said, 'Who wants to come witness the explosion?'

...

Molly was washing the dishes when she heard the splash of water, Ginny's scream, and the raucous laughter from the boys. For the first time in months, she heard George laugh. It was a sound she wondered when she would hear next. Now that George had finally accepted Fred's death, she knew they were all going to be all right. Smiling, she turned to the next pan.

* * *

**Author's Note:** _So, what do you think? Was it all right? I hope it was. Review, please?_


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